Front Cover: Fluorescing Isofunctional Ribonucleosides: Assessing Adenosine Deaminase Activity and Inhibition (ChemBioChem 5/2019)

• Published in: Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology Vol. 20; no. 5; p. 621
• Main Authors: Ludford, Paul T., Rovira, Alexander R., Fin, Andrea, Tor, Yitzhak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.03.2019
• Subjects: adenosine; adenosine deaminase; enzyme catalysis; high-throughput screening; inhibitors
• ISSN: 1439-4227; 1439-7633
• DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201900080

The front cover picture shows a fluorescence‐based assay utilizing an emissive adenosine surrogate, which “illuminates” the study of adenosine deaminase (ADA) and the discovery of its inhibitors. tzA, an isothiazolo[4,3‐d]pyrimidine‐based adenosine analogue, is effectively deaminated by ADA to yield the corresponding inosine analogue. The distinct photophysics of the emissive analogues opens an optical window into this conversion, which is unattainable by the native non‐emissive counterparts. This facilitates real‐time analyses of deamination reactions in the absence and presence of potential inhibitors. As ADA′s high expression levels are associated with unfavorable prognosis in certain cancers, such assays accelerate the discovery of new inhibitors. More information can be found in the full paper by Y. Tor et al. on page 718 in Issue 5, 2019 (DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201800665).